In the field of electronic component assembly and insertion, a major step in inserting components into predrilled holes in printed circuit boards is cutting the leads to length after insertion, and clinching the remaining leads underneath the circuit board.
In the past, numerous devices have been designed to accomplish the cutting function. There are devices for cutting single leads, and devices for cutting two leads at a time using two identical cutting devices in coordinated operation. The mechanism disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,646,659 is an example of the latter case.
With the increasing usage of electronic modules having a large plurality of leads aligned in a single or double row, cut and clinch devices have been developed to operate simultaneously on an entire row of leads. The pending U.S. application, Multiple Lead Cut and Clinch Mechanism, Ser. No. 773,347, filed Mar. 1, 1977 by Ragard and Matson, discloses a mechanism using two cutters which in combination concurrently cut a single row of component leads numbering sixteen.
However there is an everincreasing use of prepackaged DIP type modules, having dual in line rows of prong leads extended from both sides of a generally rectangular component body. Components with as many as forty leads are quite common. Machines have already been developed for the automatic insertion of DIP components in predrilled holes in printed circuit boards. For economy and efficiency in operation what is needed is a cut and clinch apparatus which operates simultaneously on all leads in both rows on DIP components.